9 – The Gates of Life and Death (2)

The sound of the spear slashing through the air sounded like an onslaught of arrows being shot out from a legion of archers.

How many times did he stab in that one moment?

Woon Seong, who had been emitting his intimidation qi relentlessly, quickly stepped back.

Then he slowly moved around and observed the trapped wolf that was still on its feet.

The alpha wolf did not move properly as it was thoroughly made a fool by Woon Seong and carefully observed back at Woon Seong.

‘The wounds are shallow.’

Woon Seong looked over at the small wounds inflicted on the hide of the grey wolf.

The attack was a dangerous one, yes. But, was rather shallow compared to the intended result that Woon Seong had hoped for.

There was no fatal wound.

The evidence was displayed through the wolf’s fierce gaze despite gasping for breath.

‘It’s gonna take a while to get past it with a battle of endurance.’

His other option was to risk it with his life as collateral.

However, Woon Seong did not intend to risk his life on some mere animal.

Besides, this wouldn’t even take that long if Woon Seong took it seriously.

Grrrr-

Did the wolf notice that Woon Seong was observing it, or did it think that Woon Seong was looking down on itself?

It cried as if it were offended and bared its teeth while showing its hostility.

However, Woon Seong responded to the gesture with a snort as if the wolf were being cute.

“Haht. pft-“

‘What a joke, let’s just finish this.’

Whooooooooooooh-

There was an aura of qi that started to permeate itself around Woon Seong’s body.

Soon, a dark fog began to flow out, and the eyes on Woon Seong slowly turned gold.

His internal qi started to circulate and churn within his dantian.

Criiing- Criiiing-

Maybe it was because of the new and unfamiliar aura around Woon Seong that scared the wolf.

The wolf let out a wary cry as for the first time in the battle, it intuitively sensed its own death.

Then the attitude and cry changed once again into a low growl.

grrrrrrr-

It was similar to before as it sounded threatening but, fundamentally different as it sounded a bit desperate.

However, that kind of measly threat would not work on Woon Seong.

Woon Seong saw the change of mentality in the wolf as he gripped his spear.

‘That works. At least now, this seems worthy enough of a fight.’

The wolf was standing tall even in its final moments, as if to prove that it was worth fighting for even if the chance of survival was minimal.

Woon Seong slowly approached it, circulating his internal qi.

As Woon Seong approached he could examine the wolf’s features.

In fact, it was very surprising to Woon Seong that it seemed somewhat similar to himself in his own final moments of his last life, although Woon Seong did not die with fear in mind.

This wolf had never known fear throughout its entire life, but was definitely starting to feel it as Woon Seong circled around it.

In fact, it was not intimidated even when the instructors trained it to fight against other martial artists.

But right now, that very wolf was tucking its tail in front of Woon Seong.

It was a scene that clearly showed the effectiveness of the derivative technique Woon Seong was developing with the Intimidation Qi.

An ordinary person would most likely faint on the spot if they were exposed to this technique.

‘If there was a standout problem, it would probably be the fact that it takes up way too much internal qi to maintain.’

The form of the intimidation qi was wrapped around Woon Seong like a blanket.

It spread out in all directions, like a fog, with the thickest source of it being Woon Seong.

Therefore, the internal qi consumption was huge.

If he could gather his internal qi and channel it into his weapons he could get rid of this wolf with ease.

However, Woon Seong had yet to get to that level yet with the body of No. 900.

‘With time, we can get there within a year.’

Right now, he needed to focus his thoughts on the wolf as his internal qi was being consumed at a rapid pace.

If he dropped his focus on the beast in front of him, it was certain that the beast was no fool and would try to attack him in that moment he would show a gap.

‘I have to end it now.’

Crack-

The moment the fog lifted from the beast’s eyes, was the moment it saw its death.

Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The wolf saw Woon Seong approaching it midair with his spear raised in hand.

It was a blow utilizing all of Woon Seong’s energy at one point.

Puck-!

The speartip of Woon Seong’s spear pierced through the skull of the Grey Wolf and it’s head burst like a watermelon.

* * *

Grrroooo-

When the wolf had finally died, the huge rock that was tightly holding off Woon Seong and the wolf from the exit, began to move slowly.

It was the door exactly opposite to the direction of the entrance Woon Seong had gone through.

‘If I were dead, that door would have never opened.’

That’s just how the trial itself was set up.

In any case Woon Seong had survived. He also had measured out everything he wanted to test.

He was able to truly check the progress of his internal qi levels, high-level spear techniques he learned when he was in the spearmaster sect as well as check the overall progress of the Heavenward Soul Earthen Body technique and his derivative version of Intimidation Qi.

Woon Seong smeared the blood of the dead wolf on his clothes and spear.

He applied the blood around the areas his shirt had ripped.

He thought it would be a good idea if he made it seem like he had a tougher time than he really did, just in case the results were too out of the ordinary.

It wasn’t long before the door finally fully opened.

As Woon Seong stepped outside, he noticed those who had exited before him in their own trials.

‘Twenty or so.’

Some of them were quite severely injured and others were fine.

Ah-Young was the latter.

She was dressed as if she hadn’t gone through a fight at all.

But the iron sword in her hand was dripping with blood.

The blood of the Grey Wolf was evident.

‘Did she kill it in one blow?’

If she did, that would mean she was truly hiding more power than he initially thought.

Or course, Woon Seong could have killed the wolf in the very beginning with one blow as well if he did not want to hide his true strength and test out his body’s full and current capabilities.

However as great as that would be, it would only be possible since Woon Seong had the iron spear in hand and his previous life’s memories.

Withthat much taken into account, it was clear Ah-Young had already surpassed any child their age’s talent. Her strength had probably already reached the second-rate level.

‘No, maybe they’re already first-rate.’

While Woon Seong was evaluating her from a distance, Ah-Young also found Woon Seong and waved her hand with a silly-looking smile.

“It must have been a pretty fierce battle.”

It was a judgment based on the amount of blood from the Grey Wolf that was smeared purposefully around Woon Seong’s clothes.

“It’s not as easy for everyone else as it is for you.”

Ah-Young nodded with a smile at Woon Seong’s words.

“That’s right. I almost died, too.”

‘What a lie.’

Woon Seong knew she was lying, but paid no more attention to her and sat down against the stone wall in the cave around him..

Then he adjusted his breath to make it fit his appearance that it was a tough battle.

“Whoo… whoo….”

Then he looked around.

Among the children who came out before him, there were quite a few who he thought to be weaker than himself.

‘But they somehow came out before me?’

In fact, it was quite fast of a time to slay a Grey Wolf in the amount of time Woon Seong had done it in, but for children weaker than him to finish faster, it made no sense at all.

However, Woon Seong had predicted there might be a case like this, and the reasoning for it seemed plausible in his head.

‘Maybe not all the trials were done fairly.’

He thought it might be the case, but he couldn’t be absolutely sure before the actual trial happened earlier.

But as Woon Seong had entered the finishing area for the children who passed and examined the results, his earlier conjecture turned into that of one with conviction.

Grrroooo-

“Wow, I did it!”

It was the noise of No. 185 cheering like an idiot as he exited his trial.

His clothes were relatively normal with slight injuries, Woon Seong thought.

His skills weren’t bad, but he was still lacking in skill when compared to the Grey Wolf that Woon Seong faced.

‘Then there’s only one conclusion to be made. Either he somehow learned some new skills, or he didn’t face the same kind of wolf that I did.’

Woon Seong, who finished collecting his thoughts, closed his eyes.

There was no reason for him to ponder on it any longer. In any case, he had passed the trial of Life and Death and that was all that mattered.

As Woon Seong closed his eyes, No. 185 picked up on Woon Seong’s presence as he shut his mouth and glared fiercely at Woon Seong from a distance.

Woon Seong felt a gaze rest on him, and he opened his eyes suddenly to see No. 185 glaring at him as he glared back right back at No. 185 with a smirk.

Then, Woon Seong paid no more attention once No. 185 averted his eyes quickly.

Woon Seong knew that No.185 still felt hostile towards him.

Nevertheless, the reason why Woon Seong had yet to kill him No. 185 was because No. 185 had still not openly shown his hostility yet. 

“Well, it doesn’t matter even if he openly bared his hostility at me.’

Woon Seong could toy with No. 185 at any time.

Woon Seong thought to himself and gave up any lingering thoughts on the case with No. 185 as he closed his eyes once more.

He had something more important to do right now.

When Woon Seong closed his eyes, he recalled the fight he had with the Grey Wolf and the full extent of the derivative technique of Intimidation Qi he had created.

The effects of the technique were excellent, but there were still many shortcomings in retrospect.

It was simply because of just how fast it depleted his internal qi reserves inside his dantian. 

‘Is it because this body is still too weak, or is it just a matter of efficiency?’

Whether it was the former or the latter, it seemed that Woon Seong would have to train further to obtain favorable results.

Numerous martial arts came to mind when he thought of how to improve the technique itself.

There were a number of different processes within the different martial arts that came to mind and Woon Seong collected and took tiny bits of information from them of how to implement their processes into improving his intimidation qi.

However, no matter how many calculations in his head that he made, he still was stumped..

The blanket of intimidation qi would still be troublesome for him to deal with expenditure-wise.

At least that’s what Woon Seong thought.

“If I continue to improve this body’s very talent with the Heavenward Soul Earthen Body technique, I can guarantee it will have a positive effect above all other options.’

With all the achievements he had made in his previous life and knowledge he collected in his time living as the disciple of the spearmaster sect, he would most definitely improve and break through all of his past limits.

Woon Seong did not have a doubt in his conviction. He couldn’t afford to when it came to his revenge.

* * *

Gooooglllleee-The remaining doors from the other children’s trials had finally opened or closed.Woon Seong counted the amount of children who had survived in total.‘It’s about… seventy or so.’Woon Seong recalled the belief of the cult that the senior instructor had mentioned several times during their training at that moment.The weak had no place in the Cult of the Heavenly Demon, however if one persevered and blossomed their strength, they would become pillars that would never be broken down.

The other children looked around and examined each other as well with nervous looks.Suddenly a large presence started to emerge from the stage in the center of the dome shaped room.The senior instructor along with the other assistant instructors came forwards and opened his mouth to speak.“Well done, you all here have survived beautifully.”